Perry Planning and Zoning approves new Prairie Trail subdivision

The 11 lots in the Prairie Trail subdivision lie along the south side of North Street between 16th and 18th streets in Perry.

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The Perry Planning and Zoning Commission redivided two parcels Tuesday south of North Street between 16th and 18th streets.

The Prairie Trail subdivision would be composed of 11 lots facing the High Trestle Trail in northeast Perry.

The joining of a one-acre strip along the south side of the Prairie Trail subdivision with a four-acre wooded parcel south of the subdivision was approved Tuesday by the Perry Planning and Zoning Commission.

The High Trestle Trail runs along the south side of North Street between 16th and 18th streets in Perry.

About a dozen executive-style homes might soon boast the High Trestle Trail as their front sidewalk now that the Perry Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) approved this week the creation of the Prairie Trail subdivision in northeast Perry.

If the Perry City Council follows suit at its May 18 meeting and accepts the commission’s recommendation, the way will be open for development of 11 lots on the five-acre parcel lying along the south side of North Street between 16th and 18th streets.

The land is owned by developers Darek and Carol VanKirk of Panora. The VanKirks’ two lots — about six acres on the north and four acres on the south — were first redivided into more or less equal parcels of five acres each. The northernmost parcel was then further divided into 11 lots.

Most of the lots are squarish at about 120 feet wide and 150 feet deep and range from about 17,500 square feet to about 25,000 square feet.

Carol VanKirk described some of her plans for the Prairie Trail subdivision. The hope is that executive homes — a marketing term for a moderately large and well-appointed house — will hep “to draw some executive-type people into the city,” she said.

VanKirk said covenants would attach to the lots, and a homeowners association would review plans and designs for each new construction, approving only houses having, for example, 1,300 to 1,400 square feet on the main level, an attached two-car garage, paint of a certain color and fencing of a certain style and so forth.

The VanKirks’ five-acre parcel south of the Prairie Trail subdivision is wooded. North Street between 16th and 18th streets was constructed in 2017.